Jamstiks in the Classroom: Week 1

Welcome back! The students are excited about the Jamstik and got their hands on them. Today they'll be digging in to explore the content of JamTutor with hard- and software that is up-to-date and working properly.

Last week they had their first experience with the Jamstiks. From an educator standpoint, I thought it went as I expected it would--some technical glitches and a lot of sharing. When I received the donation from Zivix, they came in boxes and were in pristine condition! This, of course, meant that the firmware was in need of an update. My 8th grade students were easilly able to take care of that, but it was a small interruption to the lesson. I attempted to ensure that the Jamstik Connect and JamTutor apps were on all of my school's iPads, but some of them weren't downloaded yet, so we had to do some sharing.

One small hurdle was that some of the Jamstiks said "There may be an issue with your Jamstik. Turn it off and then on again and connect to the Wi-Fi." I am not 100% sure how to fix that issue, but I've found some success in holding down the power button while it's solid red until it flickers orange and finally turns off. That seems to be the key to getting it completely working again. At the time of this posting, all of the Jamstiks have successfully connected to an iPad--we'll see how it goes today!

Their initial experience with a classroom set of Jamstiks was positive. Though I've used it in the classroom before, it was only on the projector and they didn't each have their own. It was a surprise that they'd have them last week, so they didn't have headphones to play through. This made any challenges that involved rhythm challenging, but they've brought their headphones this week and that won't be an issue.

Some of the legwork I did to prepare for our first day included organizing all the Jamstiks on a cart. I labeled spots for each Jamstik 1-20 and stuck velcro to the cart and the Jamstik. This allows me to move them quickly and easily and each student can grab theirs and put it away without issue. I had to put them with the micro USB port facing up to allow for charging.

Additionally, I labeled the back of each Jamstik with the Wi-Fi network it creates. This allows students to quickly look at the network they need to connect to. It was very easy for students to find theirs in the list of 20 wireless networks available! The wireless network name is located inside the battery pack cover--I just didn't want them digging into the batteries each and every class! I also ordered three 7-port USB hubs for about $60. I'll affix those to the cart as well.

My first impression and my students' first impression of the classroom set of Jamstiks was very positive. I didn't have all the apps downloaded, so that presented a small issue that was fixed a few days later. If you choose to do this in your classroom, just be sure to provide time to take care of that before your first class. The kids dug it and there were smiles all over the room!

Check back for an update after today's classes.